We were wrong to say that an appeal court ruling last week meant that the justice secretary had lost the power to block the release of prisoners serving life sentences. Ministers lost that power in 2002. The ruling related to prisoners sentenced to 15 years or more under the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (Minister loses power to block release of life prisoners, page 13, April 16).

Barack Obama said he stopped wearing an American flag pin because it had become a substitute for true patriotism since 9/11; he did not say he removed the patriotic emblem after the Iraq war (Springsteen believes Obama was born to run, theguardian.com, April 16).